


The Past, The Present, The Future

by SonyB89



Category: Marcus Moreno - Fandom, We Can Be Heroes
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Intimacy, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Intimacy, Marcus Moreno is a DILF, Marcus deserves all the hugs, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28368570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonyB89/pseuds/SonyB89
Summary: After a huge fight with her father, Missy Moreno seeks assistance with her guidance councilor. While she is at her grandmothers house, said councilor tries to talk to Marcus Moreno about his feelings and the fact that his daughter wants him to start dating again. Things get... complicated.
Relationships: Marcus Moreno / Original Female Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	1. The Fight about the Past

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw "We can be Heroes" and while it's definetly a movie for kids, I decided to make Missy Moreno a little older and take her father for a joy ride. I do hope you like it.

* * *

Thirteen year old Missy Moreno had no idea what to do.

After a huge fight with her father, the biggest she could ever remember, she had waited for him to go to sleep.  
Leaving her communicator-bracelet behind, she had sneaked out of her window, fallen onto the grass and running away into the night.

She clutched her right wrist to her chest. She was sure it was broken.

She had had two choices – go to her grandmothers house in the middle of the night, which would have taken her at least an hour by foot – or talk to the only person who she thought would understand her.

Cursing under her breath, blinking her tears and her frustration away, she had set off to Selena Willows’ house. Selena was the team-building and guidance councilor at the heroics headquarters and had started to work with her dad after the alien invasion debacle a few years back.

She had become a close family friend – and she had once told Missy and the other kids, that it was her job to worry about them and guide them. Answer any questions they might have. And she had told them that if they ever needed anything – _anything at all_ – she would be there for them.  
So Selenas place was her destination.

* * *

After helplessly wandering through town for about forty-five minutes, Missy finally reached Selenas apartment building, climbed up the stairs and pressed the doorbell.  
It didn’t take long for the door to open.

Clad in a robe and pyjamas, Selena opened the door. Missy liked the womans hair. It was the colour of liquid caramel. Her green eyes radiated with kindness, her chubby cheeks and her soft physique invited everyone in for a hug. But right now the look of kindness was gone, making way for concern.

“Missy? It’s almost 2:00 A.M. What are you… _Oh dear_ , that doesn’t look good.”

Missy broke down on her councilors doorstep, crying her heart out and being scooped up in a hug. She was rambling and Selena saw that she was in pain. And her father was nowhere to be seen.

She could only make out the words “big fight” and “ran away”.

Selena sighed, rubbing the poor girls back.

“Missy, listen to me.”

The girl took a shaky breath to steady herself.

“It looks to me like your wrist is broken. I have to take you to the hospital.”

“But my Dad-“

“Is probably already worried sick about you. Now, I will go and change. I will drive you to the hospital. And then I will call your father…”

“No!”

“Missy…”

“Please, anything but that. We had a horrible fight. Besides… I kind of… stole his phone?”

Selena sighed.

“I will drive you to the hospital. I will call your grandmother, so she can stay with you and get you fixed up. And then I will drive home and talk to your father.”

It took her thirteen year old mind a while to understand that there was no way around this. And her wrist really hurt. But how was she supposed to face her Dad?

Selena put up her hair, slipped into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and they were out the door and en route to the emergency room in ten minutes. The streets were empty and the autumn night was clear and crisp.

“Do you want to tell me what you were fighting about?”

Missy nodded, but couldn’t find the words at first.

“Take your time, sweetie.”

Missys grandmother had been informed and was on her way to the hospital, having sworn to Missy that she would not call her father.

“I… It’s been seven years since my mom died”, she started, leaning back in the car seat. “I miss her every day, and so does Dad.”

“Of course you do.”

“But… Tonight … I kind of … Oh, Selena, I think I broke my Dad.”

* * *

Half an hour later, Selena was standing in front of the Morenos house, glad that it was dark. Marcus had slept through the ordeal and had yet to find out that his daughter was hurt and had ran away from home.

Anita Moreno had everything under control at the hospital.  
  
Now it was time to face Marcus. And after the story Missy had told her, it was not going to be easy.

_You can do this, Selena. Marcus is your friend. He needs you._

Being a hero meant that Marcs was a light sleeper. But if the fight really had been as bad as Missy had said, it was no wonder that it took Marcus a while to answer the door.

Selenas heart skipped a beat upon seeing him. He looked so defeated, so exhausted. His pyjama bottoms were hanging loosely on his hips. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and tried to focus.

“Selena? What are you doing here? What time is it?”

“3:35”, she answered.

Marcus slowly blinked himself awake, yawning.

“What are you doing here at 3:35? Are you okay?”

Selena hated to be the bearer of bad news, but someone had to tell him.

“Marcus. Missy is at the hospital.”

She could have just as well emptied a bucket of ice cold water over his head. The reaction would have been the same.  
All colour left his face as it fell and he turned on his heel to storm up to his daughters room, shouting her name in vain.

Sighing, Selena entered the house and closed the door.

Marcus bolted down the stairs, nervous energy, confusion, rage and worry radiating off him in waves.

“She’s not in her room. How do you know where she is? What happened? Is she okay? I need to-“

“What you _need_ , Marcus, is to calm down and listen to me. Okay?”

“My _daughter_ is missing and you’re telling me to calm down?”

Under normal circumstances, Selena would never have been able to physically force someone to do anything. But Marcus was so distraught and so exhausted, that it didn’t took a lot of force for Selena to make him sit down on the stairs.

She put her hands on his enormous biceps and slightly pushed downwards, while searching for his eyes.

“Marcus. She’s fine. Sit down.”

Marcus sat on the stairs, nervously twitching. He grabbed for Selenas upper arms to anchor himself. He took a few deep breaths, slowly coming back to himself.

“Now. Listen to me, okay?”

He nodded.

“Missy ran away. She escaped through her bedroom window, fell down and broke her wrist _. She’s fine_. Your mother is with her at the hospital. Missy is being taken care of.”

Selena could feel him trying to get up again, but she was not done. She lightly pushed him back down, then reached for her jacket pocket.

“I’ve got something for you.”

“Wait a second… Is that my phone?”

“Missy took it, so I couldn’t call you. Now, I’ll leave you here so you can call your mother. I’ll be in the kitchen to make you some tea, okay?”

Selena could only imagine the cocktail of feelings in the mans body as he took his phone, wondering why his daughter had ran away, stole his phone and was now at the hospital.

“Marcus. Did you hear me?”

“Yeah… Um… tea would be lovely, thanks. I’ll.. I’ll just be a minute.”

“Take your time”, Selena said and then did something that would hopefully calm him down. She placed a kiss on his forehead.  
  
“I’ll be in the kitchen.”

It was unpolite to listen in on a phone conversation, but Marcus gave Selena no choice on the matter. He was talking fast, he was talking loud – and his mother was even louder.

By the time Marcus came into the kitchen it had started raining outside. He let himself fall onto a barstool in front of the kitchen counter and cradled his head in his hands.  
Careful not to spill anything, Selena went to him and placed a steaming mug of mint tea in front of him, sitting down beside him.

“She’s staying the night at her grandmothers, I presume?”

“Yeah…”, he sighed. “I’m sorry, Selena.”

“What for?”

“That Missy dragged you into this. She told you we had a fight, right?”

“She also told me what it was about…”

“Urgh, just perfect.”

“Marcus…”, she said, slowly trying to get to the bottom of the problem, hoping that his exhaustion might not trigger a violent reaction. “You do know she only said what she said because she loves you, right?”

“Of course I know that.”

Selena said nothing, only reached out to grab one of his hands and rubbing her thumb over his skin.

“Missy said you shouted at her. I think that’s what made her run away today. Marcus, you don’t normally shout. What did she say?”

Marcus took a shaky breath.

“She said _> Mom would want you to be happy.<_ Of course she would want me to be happy. But I _was_ happy… and then she…”

Missy’s mission had been to get his father to admit that he needed a new woman in his life. No wonder a huge fight had erupted.

“She… Missy wants me to start dating again. She says she hates seeing me being alone. She thinks I’m lonely.”

“Are you? Lonely, that is?”

“Sometimes… Maybe… I don’t know. Well… I told her that it was none of her business if I were to start dating again… And then I said… Urgh, I said she wouldn’t know what her Mother would have wanted, because she was only six when she died…”

“Oh Marcus….”

“I… I didn’t mean it like that… And then she blew up in my face-“

“Thirteen year old girls tend to explode sometimes…”

“But why now? Why is she so hellbent on getting me to date someone? I loved her mother… How can I….”

Her teacup abandoned, Selena decided that it was time to take drastic measures. She could see the huge burden on Marcus’s shoulders. And it was time to help him lift it a little.  
Selena slid off her barstool, stepped in between his legs, wrapped her arms around him and pressed his face to her chest in a comforting hug.

For the second time in less than two hours, a member of the Moreno family broke down in Selenas arms. It only took a second for Marcus to cling to Selena, squeezing her hard, shedding tears.

“I miss her… I miss her so much…”

There was nothing to do but shushing him and letting him ride out his crying fit. He was broken, clinging to Selena like a lifeline. She rubbed soothing circles on his back and neck, cradled his head and tried to get even closer to him.

He had moved his face from her clavicle to her neck, wetting her shirt with tears and trying to calm down. Selena couldn’t tell how long she stood there, with this beautiful, strong, gentle man in her arms, but she definitely knew that the different chemicals fighting in his brain were to blame for what happened next.

Selena felt Marcus’s hot breath on her neck while the kitchen clock was ticking, and suddenly she felt his hands wandering.  
The tip of his tongue graced her skin for a second before she could feel his lips attaching himself to her neck in a hungry kiss that would definitely leave a bruise.

“Marcus…”, she whispered, frozen, but he kept going.  
His hands had found the hem of her shirt and were now traveling over the skin of her back, leaving hot trails behind with every needy grab and squeeze.

It was overwhelming. _He_ was overwhelming. But at that moment, that was probably the point of it all. He was also trying to overwhelm himself.  
Marcus Moreno didn’t think straight anymore, acted on pure instinct and chaos and need and loneliness.  
But of course that also meant that he acted with his bodily strength.  
  
He groaned as his thumbs traced the edge of Selenas bra while his lips travelled north, kissing her jaw, scraping his teeth over exposed skin ever so often.  
  


Selena didn’t know what to do.  
It was useless to deny that she had wanted him – wanted _this_ – for over a year now.  
But now was neither the moment nor the right situation for it. But that didn’t mean that her body didn’t flush with heat and that his ministrations didn’t have an affect on her.

She dug her nails into his shoulders, his body and primal instincts mistaking it for a sign of passion – to continue, to go on.  
One of his hands abandoned his travels under her shit and came up to cradle her head to finally seal his hot lips over hers with a hungry growl, his tongue invading her mouth, his hand fisting her hair and pulling.  
Five seconds. She gave herself five seconds to enjoy it, to reciprocate, to feel wanted, to feel needed, before she summoned all her willpower and stepped back, panting hard.  
  
“Marcus… If this were any other night… any other moment… I would be so, _so happy_.. But…”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence.  
The gravity of what he’d done struck Marcus like a lightning bolt.  
He sprung up from his chair and started wandering through the kitchen like a caged lion. He cursed in spanish, ran his hands through his hair, his face a mask of shock.

“Oh God… Selena. I’m so sorry…”

“Marcus…”

“I don’t know what…”

“Macus, it’s _fine_!”

“It’s fine? I just tried to ravish you against my kitchen counter in the middle of the night, while my daughter is at the hospital! _I just lost total control of myself!_ How is that fine?”

“Because it’s human, Marcus! You’re confused, you’re hurt and you’re exhausted.”

“That’s not an excuse for _forcing_ myself on you, Selena!”, he shouted.

Selena sat back on the barstool, trying to calm herself down. This wasn’t the time to have a personal meltdown over her feelings for the single father in front of her.  
He needed her. Missy needed her. Whatever she had to deal with could wait.

“You did not _force_ yourself on me, Marcus. It takes two to tango.”

His hands were clenching and unclenching, probably wishing that he had the hilts of his katanas in his hands to ground him. He refused to make eye contact with her.  
The clock struck 4 A.M. in the background.

“Here’s what we’re going to do”, she said.

“You’re going to go back to bed and try to sleep. I’ll stay on the couch if you need me. And tomorrow, we’ll get some lunch and I’ll drive you to your mothers. And you’ll talk to your daughter.”

“But-“

“No buts, Marcus”, she interrupted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Your situation with Missy comes first. You will talk to her and try and fix this.”

He sighed, nodding.

“And… and if you still talk about what just happened after that… we can talk about it on Monday at work. Okay?”

Selena hated that his eyes were so expressive. She just knew that he wanted to say thank you and fought to argue with her at the same time, but his exhaustion won.

“Now go and get some sleep.”

“I’ll try…”, he said. “I’ll try.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get awkward between Marcus and Selena - and Missy has no choice but to intervene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! The adult content starts here! But no 18+ content yet. I still have to decide whether I will have some explicit content in the last chapter. I will change the rating accordingly.

* * *

„Is it just me“, asked Acapella, “or are your Dad and Miss Willow acting a little strange lately?”

The kids were sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria of the Heroics headquarters, watching the dance that was going on at the buffet. It was nothing new and it was _definitely_ not Acapellas imagination.

Missys Dad and Miss Willow _were_ acting strange.  
She had turned around, balancing her plate and her drink in her arms, almost bumping into Marcus, who had picked up some desert.

The kids were watching in awe as Marcus caught Selenas water bottle while simultaneously trying to steady her, which made her slip on a wet spot on the floor, which then resulted in Marcus letting the bottle and his dessert drop and full-on grabbing for her frame, which _then_ made her drop her plate of soup and cling to his shirt.

The whole cafeteria was watching as Marcus’ muscles shook with effort from trying to hold his balance and simultaneously holding the woman in his arms in a very awkward, very anatomically near impossible angle.

“Nope, you’re not imagining things”, Missy answered, setting her own plate of pizza on the table and sitting down.  
Wild Card took a seat next to the girls, grinning.

“Oh, they totally have the hots for each other.”

“ _Ewww_! You’re talking about my _Dad_! That being said… I think you might be right….”

Selena had meanwhile succeeded in finding her balance, her face red as a tomato, her eyes looking anywhere but Marcus’ face, who wanted to know if she was okay.  
The two of them were oblivious to the curious stares and smiles from the people around them.

_Everyone had noticed._

Ever since Missy broke her wrist a month ago, something had changed between the leader of the Heroics and the councilor.

Hidden glances, when one thought the other wasn’t looking.  
Sudden trips into day dreams that left them blushing in the middle of the day.  
It seemed like some magnetic force was bringing them together in the most awkward ways, forcing them to touch or work together – and both of them treated the other like a hot stove plate.  
  
Honestly, it was adorable.  
  


“Good for them”, Acapella said, smiling. “She’s so nice. And your Dad is… well… your Dad is really good looking.”

“Again… _ew_ … But honestly, it’s time. I think she might be exactly what the doctor ordered.”

“So, what’s the plan?”, asked Wild Card, his mouth full of Pizza.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come on… They’re adults. Do you really think they’ll get anywhere if we don’t intervene? They’ll never figure out that they like each other if we don’t … I don’t know, lock them in a closet or something.”

Missy scratched her chin in thought, watching as her Dad offered to buy Selena some new soup – from two steps behind her, with plenty of space for someone to pass between them.  
Her friend might be right.

“Alright… Emergency kids meeting after lunch.”

* * *

Preparations had been made in secret all week.

Thanks to Wild Card and some experimental trials with powers to change the weather, a storm was brewing that would hit the area around her home at night.  
With the help of her friends, she had ensured that various “ _mishaps_ ” would happen while cooking and that there would be a mysterious power outage during movie night.  
  
And for the first time in a while, Missy was glad that her father often had his head in the clouds in the mornings.

It was Friday afternoon, almost time to go home.  
Her father would be waiting in the parking lot. If this did not work now, her whole plan would be ruined.

Missy knocked at Selenas office door. Technically she still had office hours for 15 minutes.

“Come in!”

Missy grinned and opened the door with her elbow.  
Her right hand was still in a cast and her other hand was holding a huge bouquet of flowers.

“Hi Miss Willow.”  
“Hello Missy. What can I do for you?”

Missy stepped up to Selenas desk and handed her the bouquet of flowers.

“These are for you. From me and my Dad. You know for… all your help the other night.”

Selena cradled the flowers in her arms, smiling. She loved flowers. She could spot lavender branches, chrysanthemums, lilys. It was beautiful.

“They are lovely, Missy. Thank you so much.”

“Do you have any plans for tonight?”, Missy asked, trying to pull her best puppy eyes and fidget nervously.

Selena frowned.

“Not yet. Why?”

“Well… My Dad and I would like to invite you over to our house for dinner and a movie. We thought it would be nice to have you over.”

Selena thought it over in her head and Missy could see that she was about to decline. Of course, her father didn’t know a thing about this.

“Please? We really want to apologise for getting you mixed up in all this…”

“But Missy, there’s nothing to apologise for….”

“Tell that to my Dad.”

Sighing, Selena nodded and Missy did an internal happy dance. The plan would work, she could feel it.

“Alright, that sounds nice.”

“Great! I’ll see you at seven!”

Missy dashed out of the room to give her councilor no chance to decline, rushing straight to the train that would get her over the train and to the parking lot.  
Fate was in her favour as she spotted her father swiping his access card on the train, waiting for his daughter to join him.

“Hey there munchkin. You look happy. Did something good happen?”

Missy shrugged.

“Nah, I’m just really looking forward to tonight.”

Marcus frowned.

“Why, what’s tonight?”

Missy stared in him in mock shock.

“Dad! We invited Miss Willow over for dinner and Cheesy-Movie-Night!”

Missy had to suppress a devilish grin as she saw her father’s eyes widen and his skin blushing.

“W-We did?”

“Yes, we did! You asked me yesterday morning not to forget to invite her, which I just did.”

Yesterday morning was a good fit.  
He had dropped eggs into the sink again, lost in thought. He would totally believe her that he’d forgotten it.

“Alright… When is she coming over?”

“You said seven, so I said seven. Dad, are you okay? You seem out of it.”

_Plant the seed of doubt, make him shrug it off…_

“Yeah… Yeah… ‘course, I’m fine. Right.. seven…”

Missy grinned. Phase two was complete.

* * *

Selena bumped her forehead against her steering wheel of her car after parking on the street in front of the Moreno house.  
It was seven on the spot and she was afraid to go inside.  
  
The last four weeks had been… _intense_.

After the much needed father daughter weekend Missy and Marcus had obviously needed, things had gotten awkward between Marcus and her, due to the…. _Incident_ in the kitchen.  
  
It turned out that they were both too embarrassed and stubborn to talk about it – so they did what every functioning adult did and ignored it completely.

They had been awkwardly dancing around each other, being hyper aware of each others moves and bodies. This weeks cafeteria incident had been one of many situations that had gotten Selenas mind into overdrive.

After mulling the moment over and over again in her mind – and spinning some pretty inappropriate and sexy fantasies about what would have happened if she hadn’t stopped him – Selena came to the conclusion that Marcus really regretted his actions.  
  
He had acted on the chemical loneliness cocktail in his brain and she had been the (un)fortunate person he had let his frustrations out on.  
  
They were still friends, and it was probably better to stay friends.

_It’s dinner and a movie with Marcus and Missy, Selena. Get a grip. Nothing’s going to happen._

With this thought in mind, Selena picked up the pie she had made for dessert and ran up the driveway to the Moreno house.

Then why had she dressed up?  
She was wearing a flower pattern skirt that ended just above her knees and swirled playfully around he legs, and a green knitted sweater that hugged her in just all the right places to emphasize her curves – a lot. And the V-Neck was just a touch too inviting – _it provided insight._

She had curled her caramel-coloured hair, the curls bouncing up and down on her ponytail with every step she took.

It had started drizzling and it looked like there was a storm on it’s way. Perfect movie weather.

Marcus opened the door and threw a dish towel over his shoulder, ready to greet her, but coughed at the sight of his guest.

“ _Woah_.. uhm… Hey there.”

“Hi Marcus.”

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Silence.

“I made pie!”

“Great! I love pie. _We_ love pie… Pie is… We really love pie. Come on in, before it starts to pour.”

Marcus stepped aside and Selena came in, toeing off her shoes in the hall.

“Hi Missy!”, she exclaimed, ready to see the young girl any minute.

“She’s not here yet. I drove her to Acapella’s for a study session after work. But she’ll be here any minute.”

Selena suppressed a cringe and trotted after Marcus into the kitchen, trying to ignore how insanely well his jeans fitted his legs.

“Something smells great”, she mumbled and set down the pie on the kitchen counter – suddenly remembering what had happened between the two barstools in front of them a month prior and blushing.

“Missy requested my famous tequila-chicken-without-the-tequila.”

 _I could use a shot of tequila right about now,_ she thought, but answered: “Sounds great. Can I help?”

An insanely loud crash made them look outside. The drizzle had turned into a full blown thunderstorm, the rain lashing against the windows, the trees bending in the wind and the dark clouds being tickled by lightning.

As if on cue, Marcus’ phone went off on the counter.

“Hey Missy, I hope you’re on your way- What? Yeah, it’s really bad over here too.”

Selena did not like where this was going.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up? Yes, Selena is here. Oh… okay, alright, I’ll tell her. I’ll come pick you up in the morning, sweetheart. Bye.”

Marcus put down the phone, flipping it around in his hands.

“Missy is… uh… kind of stuck at Acapellas because of the storm. She apologises for missing movie night.”

 _Seriously? Why does the universe hate me?_ Selena thought.

“We’ll just have to save her some dinner, so she can eat it tomorrow.”

The rain was coming down too hard, there was no way that she could bolt and drive home in this weather.

“Right… Right…”

“So, how can I help?”

“Want to help me with the salad?”, Marcus sighed, defeated and opened the fridge to get the vegetables.

Selena was more than willing to come to the other side of the counter – away from the barstools that made her skin tingle with her new favourite delicious memory.  
She turned on the faucet – but no water was coming out. Only a gurgling sound from the pipes.

“Huh…”

“Weird”, Marcus said. “That thing’s been acting up all week…”

The sudden explosive eruption of water took them both by surprise and drenched them from head to toe.  
And it wasn’t just a few drops… By the time Marcus could turn off the faucet, they were both panting, dripping with cold water and absolutely wet.

“Well… That just happened…”, Selena laughed, gripping the fabric of her shirt and wrangling it trough her hands, exposing her stomach.

“I’m sorry… I really have to get this stupid thing repaired.”

Marcus was not faring any better. His shirt was sticking to his frame, his hair dripping, his glasses covered in droplets.  
  


“I’ll need to borrow some clothes…”, Selena mumbled, looking anywhere but at him again. It was ten minutes past seven and the evening was already weird.

“Sure. Follow me.”

Selena had been at the Morenos house a few times in the years she had known them, but never had she had the chance, or a reason, to enter Marcus’ bedroom.  
Unlike Missys room, which was decorated with all kinds of things a thirteen year old might need, Marcus kept his bedroom very spartan.

A big four poster bed with dark blue cotton sheets, a nightstand with a lamp, a closet for his clothes and a mirror on the wall. An adjourning door led to his en-suite bathroom.  
There was nothing to see, but still, Selena was excited while the water dripped onto the wooden floor.

Marcus opened the closet, fished out a pair of black sweatpants and a black t-shirt.  
“I’ll change in Missys room, feel free to use the bathroom down here.”

“Thanks.”

Selena had to restrain herself from literary fleeing into the bathroom. She shut the door behind her, locked it and took a shaky breath.

“I can do this… I can do this…”, she mumbled, slowly trying to escape her clothing.  
It was as she feared. Even her underwear was drenched. She would have to go _commando_.  
  
 _Can this day get any worse?,_ she thought – until Marcus’ scent enveloped her when she slipped into his shirt and his pants. Urgh, now she even smelled like him.  
They were both a bit too big for her, but the pants felt snug on her broad hips and her breasts gave the t-shirt a slight stretch.  
  
She borrowed a towel to dry her hair and gave herself a few more seconds to breathe before gathering up her damp clothes from the bathroom floor and emerging into the bedroom again.  
The storm had picked up and was even more ferocious.

“Want me to throw those in the dryer for you?”

An embarrassing “eeeep” sound escaped her lips and her heart jumped into her throat.   
Damn Marcus and his superhero skills. His movements were way too silent.  
He had changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, holding out his hand to take her clothes.

She was already handing them to him when she remembered that she was practically showing him that she was not wearing any underwear right now.  
The baby blue bra and panties brushed his hands and he coughed, embarrassed.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks….”

Marcus left to throw her clothes in the dryer and as soon as he was out of sight, she clenched her fist and bit her fingers.  
 _This. Was. Horrible._

He had left a pair of socks for her on his mattress to put on, so she did and then found her way back to the kitchen. The chicken in the oven looked quite done. It smelled wonderful.  
So now, all she had to do was survive dinner and hope that the storm would stop in time for her to drive home to save her from more indignity.

Marcus returned and Selena suddenly had the urge to drink. Missy wasn’t coming and she really needed something to calm her down.

“You mentioned tequila earlier.”

“Good idea.”

The evening went uphill or downhill from there pretty quickly – depending on what perspective one wanted to take.  
The tequila took the edge off a little and dinner was absolutely delicious.  
Selena was fascinated that Marcus was such a good cook. After the second shot, conversation got lighter.

“Wait… you’ve seriously never seen Shaun of the Dead?”

“I don’t like Zombie movies!”, she laughed.

“But that’s not a typical Zombie movie. That’s a British comedy masterpiece!”

There was teasing, more tequila and the storm raged on outside.

The pie was gone and the clock struck 10.   
And it was still pouring. By now both of them had a buzz going and it was probably not a good idea to drive anymore.  
  
But they had some cheesy horror movies to watch.

As Marcus went to make some popcorn, Selena sat down on the couch in the living room, smiling.  
Maybe this was what they had needed.  
  
A reminder of their friendship. A reminder of how well they got along. And some alcohol.  
  
She snuggled into the blanket, waiting for Marcus to join her.  
She almost didn’t care if the arm he put on the backrest of the couch was there on purpose or by accident. It was nice to sit this close, almost touching.

Their hands touched ever so often when reaching for popcorn.  
With every jump scare, Selena dared to come a bit closer and Marcus’ arm dropped from the armrest to her shoulder.  
It was nice, it was cosy – it was platonic.

Until another loud crash from the sky made the popcorn bowl fly and all the lights went out.  
They were suddenly engulfed in total darkness.

Selenas heart was running a mile a minute, thumping against her ribcage. She had thrown her arms around Marcus and had curled herself into his lap.  
One of his hands was resting on her thigh while the other was on the small of her back.  
Neither of them dared to move or say anything.

Her heart pumped the tequila and the adrenalin through her body, making her very aware on where she rested her head all of a sudden.  
Hear face was buried in his neck.  
It would take only a leap, a second of bravery, to mimick what Marcus had done only four weeks prior. A tingle went up and down her body, making her skin crawl with goosebumps.

 _Do it_ , a little voice inside her head said. _For once in your life, take the leap. Be brave._

So she took the leap.

Cautiously, but determined, Selena scraped her teeth over the exposed flesh of his neck before attaching her lips to it in a hungry kiss. Just like Marcus had done.

She was rewarded with a sudden shaky intake of breath and the feeling of his fingers clenching themselves into the flesh of her plush thigh and her back.  
Selena nibbled again, ever so often slightly using her teeth. This was intoxicating. It made her feel powerful.

Encouraged by the lack of resistance she sat up slightly, successfully straddling his thighs. Her hands found their way into Marcus’ hair, slightly pulling, remembering how amazing this had felt when he had done this to her.  
Not wanting to wait a second longer, but not daring to look into his eyes before doing so, Selena placed her lips on his, nipping at his bottom lip, hoping, _praying_ that he would reciprocate.

Like a strike of lightning, Marcus suddenly took over, no more restraints holding him back.  
He kissed her back hungrily, deepened the kiss and coaxed a little moan out of her when his tongue invaded her mouth yet again.  
  
He used his strong arms to pull her even closer, both of them knowing that their shirts were the only pieces of fabric preventing their skins from touching.

The urge to explore more, to feel more, was overwhelming. Marcus’ hands traveled again, fingers tracing her stomach until one of his hands graced her breasts as the other one clutched her tigh even tighter.

Both of them needed air. The sudden alarm of a cramp made Selena wiggle just a little closer to his core – feeling Marcus’ obvious _excitement_ straining his pants.

At that moment she knew she couldn’t continue. Not without talking to him.  
She hated herself for being a woman of words and not a woman of action. But there was too much at stake.

She thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of Marcus’ big hand cradling her breast, his thumb grazing the most sensitive part of it.  
She felt desire pool deep within her, feeling that she could get him so.. .excited.  
Slowly, taking deep breaths, she leaned her forehead against his, steadying herself , placing her hand on his shoulders, before opening her eyes.

“What are we doing here, Marcus?”, she whispered.

His grip loosened a little, but he didn’t retreat. That was a good sign.  
His hands did settle on her hips though. She took the chance to sit back on her hunches, giving herself some space to look into his eyes - or try to at least, in the darkness.

As expected, she was met with a look of excitement, lust, curiosity and uncertainty.

“I… I remember this being called making out”, he chuckled.

Selena laughed.

“Yeah… Been a while since I’ve done that.”

“Which is a crime, in my opinion”, he said, his thumbs tracing over the exposed flesh of her hips in lazy motions.

Selena wanted to say everything she had thought about over the last four weeks. She wanted to open up her heart, talk about his feelings and his thoughts, and of course she wanted to continue the wonderful kissing – but it was not to be.

**_“Marcus? Marcus, answer your fucking com already!”_ **

Miracle Guys voice wedging itself between them from Marcus’ communication bracelet killed the mood entirely.  
They both groaned.

“This is really not a good time, Blondie!”, Marcus growled.

“Sorry to interrupt your pathetic Friday night plans of beer and bad Netflix movies”, Miracle Guys voice answered.  
“But we need you at Headquarters ASAP. The storm is causing a lot of damage all over town and the city needs our help.”

Marcus groaned, pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes in exhaustion.

“I’ll be right there.”

“Can you pick up Willow on the way? She’s not answering either, and we need all hands on deck.”

“On it.”

With a final feral growl, Marcus leaned forward and kissed her again just for a second, sloppy but determined, pressing his obviously very excited body part against her thighs .

“This isn’t over, do you hear me?”, he sighed – and then picked her up as if she weighed nothing and set her onto her feet.

“Your clothes should be dry by now. We should go.”

It was the first time in her career that Selena was truly angry at having such an amazing job.  
  
But the sight of his disheveled hair and the small bruise that was forming on his neck was worth it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids matchmaking prank has unforseen, dire consequences, and Marcus needs to find a way to make things right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS WHERE THE 18+ content comes in. And we're entering angsty waters - with a happy end.  
> I hope you enjoy it...

* * *

Nobody could have anticipated the impact that the “stormy night” would have on the future – especially not Selena.  
Then again, nobody ever expected a punch in the gut from the universe until it came.

Yes, the storm had gotten out of control.  
It turned out that manipulating the weather was something that Wild Card was not ready to do. Thankfully, the Heroics had the situation under control pretty quickly and no one got hurt.

The children came clean pretty quickly, but it was not until their group counceling session a few days later that they realized wat they had meddled with.

Selena stood in front of the class, leaning against the front desk, looking at the children of the Heroics. Normally she was easygoing, chipper, but today she was quite disappointed. What had the kids been thinking?

“Alright”, she said, clapping her hands, trying to establish eye contact with every single child before trying to coax the reason out of them why they had started a city wide storm and power outage.

“I know very well that it was not Wild Cards idea alone to start a freaking storm – this was not a one person job. What I would like to know is why you would do something like this in the first place, without thinking of the consequences. Who wants to start talking?”

The kids were trading sheepish looks, but none of them were talking.  
Selena decided to focus on the youngest. Guppy was squirming in her seat.

“I… I…”

“Yes, Guppy?”

“I only made the faucet explode!”, she cried in defense, while the class shoutet “Guppy!”

“S-Sorry what?”

“Missy said if I manipulate the water in her house…”

Selena didn’t hear what she said next.   
The memory of the water in the Morenos kitchen that had drenched her and Marcus was too vivid in her memory.

“It was my fault, Selena”, Missy finally admitted.

“We ... we were trying to get you and my Dad together! We thought if we played matchmaker, you two could be happy.”

The kids could not have predicted what happened next.   
Unbeknownst to them, a switch had just been flipped in Selenas brain. She grabbed the edge of the table, her knuckles turning white.  
Her heart was thumping against her ribcage, her face no longer holding any kindness. Instead they were confronted with contained rage.

“You… you what?”

“Uhm.. Miss Willow…”

“You… You started a storm and put lives at rist… for a prank?”

“Miss Willow, you-“

“That is not only bad… but it’s distasteful.”

Selena didn’t see that the kids were now focused on something completely different. Shocked, they were looking at their councilor and what was happening to her.

“Not only did you betray me and played with my feelings...”

“Miss Willow!”

“But you _manipulated_ me… _manipulated_ Marcus… making us believe that…”

“SELENA, you’re bleeding!”

She finally realized that something was wrong when her right leg could no longer support her weight, making her stumble to the ground.  
Looking down at her right thigh, she saw that the light blue fabric of her jeans was drenched in blood.

_Oh no…No! nNt here… not in front of the kids…_

The sudden stabbing pain in her leg made her cry out.   
White spots of angiuish danced in front of her face as she tried to stay conscious.  
The last thing she heard before she drifted off into the dark was Missy, desperately calling into her communication bracelet, begging her father to come and help her.  
  


* * *

Every parent dreaded the moment when they heard their kid screaming for help.

Marcus had bolted from his office, running full speed to the underground stronghold to answer Missys call.  
  


The kids weren’t much help and Marucs didn’t have time to listen to them anyway.  
All he saw was Selena, collapsed on the floor, blood dripping from a wound on her leg that he couldn’t see.

He barked orders at the security personel to take care of the kids, then scooped up his barely concious friend with no difficulty at all and sprinted towards the medical bay on the second floor, Missy hot on his heels.

The staff at the med bay was on high alert as soon as Marcus kicked open the door and carried in the injured, bleeding councilor.   
He placed her on a gurney and watched her being rolled into the nearest treatment room.   
The walls were made of glass and he and his daughter could see two nurses and a doctor bending over Selena, asking her if she could hear them.

One of the nurses drew the curtain to cut off their view.  
  


“She’s barely conscious”, he heard.  
“Someone get in touch with her emergency contact. And get me her medical file ASAP.”

Marcus pulled back to reality when he felt his daughters shaking hand grabbing for his.

He had done what he could for Selena, now it was time to care for Missy.

“Honey, what happened? Are you okay?”

Carefully he coaxed his daughter to sit down on one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs in the waiting area, where they would still be able to see into Selenas room.   
  


“I… I don’t know, Dad. She was scolding us for… you know… but then she got really angry and… suddenly her leg started to bleed. But there was no weapon, no one that hurt her… the blood just kept …”

She buried her face in his stomach, trembling.   
There was nothing to do but rubbing soothing circles over her back and shushing her, promising that everything would be fine.

He could hear one of the nurses briefly talking to someone on the phone, probably her emergency contact, before the file was brought in to the doctor.

“Dad?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“What’s an emergency contact?”

Marcus was happy that he could finally focus on something that was easy to explain.

“That’s a person that gets called when you are admitted to hospital. For kids like you it’s mostly parents and guardians. Once you’re off age you can decide yourself. It can be a close family member, or a longtime boyfriend or girlfriend. Whoever you choose, really”, he answered.

A sudden commotion at the reception interrupted their conversation.  
Looking up, Marcus had to admit he had to do a double take to recognize Miracle Guy. It was so seldom that he got to see his best frenemy out of his costume that he almost looked out of sorts in normal jeans and a flannel shirt.

“… so sorry, Miracle Guy, but I can only allow the nurses and her emergency contact in the room.” one of the nurses said, blocking the door to Selenas room.

“I _am_ her emergency contact, you buffoon. One of your colleagues called me ten minutes ago.”

Marcus and Missy exchanged confused glances.

  
_Miracle Guy was Selena Willows’ emergency contact?_

The superhero caught their eye and he waved at them.

“Listen here. Talk to whoever is in charge and then come and get me. I’ll be over there.”, the blonde man growled, leaving the confused nurse to go into the room to look for the doctor.

“What happened?”, he snapped, cutting to the chase immediately, but the Morenos didn’t have the chance to reply.  
The small group was approached by the doctor who had examined her, a woman with olive skin and black hair.

“Miracle Guy? She’s conscious and she’s waiting for you. Did you bring her…?”

Miracle Guy patted the small leather bag he was carrying.

“All set, Doc.”

She nodded.

“Great. I’ll leave you to it then.”

As fast as he had appeared, Miracle Guy was gone, disappearing behind the curtain where Selena lay, apparently conscious again.

“How is she?”, Marcus asked, his daughters hand still in his.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Moreno. I can’t discuss her medical status with you.”

“Do you at least know what happened?”

The doctor obviously thought about what she could share with him and what not, before answering.

“I do. She will be back on her feet in no time. The thing is, Mr. Moreno, you and your daughter are currently the reason for her condition.”

“What? How can I… how can my daughter be responsible for _that_?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

He let out a frustrated groan.

“You can’t see her, I’m afraid. In fact, she asked me to tell you to go home.”

The Morenos had no choice but to leave the med bay then, with more questions than answers.

* * *

“Are they gone?”, Selena sighed, listening for the electric doors of the medical bay, but she was too out of it to concentrate.

Miracle Guy was standing at the foot of her bed, nodding.

“Thanks for coming, Guy. I really didn't want them to see me like this.”

The man in front of her chuckled. Not a lot of people knew that his first name was, in fact, _Guy_. And he wanted to keep it that way.

“How are you feeling, Selena?”, he asked, sitting down on her mattress, ignoring that the nurses had cut off her jeans in order to wrap the wound on her lag in bandages.   
He had seen her like this before. And he didn't like being reminded of it.  
Both of them knew that that was only a temporary solution.

“Like crap”, she admitted. “I had a fucking _episode_ in front of the kids, Guy…”

“Which was not your fault, as far as I’ve heard.”

“I know, but still…”

Guy sighed, rummaged through his leather bag and gave her the two pill-bottles that were inside it.   
“I brought you your medication. Two weeks of rest, orders from up high.”

“But-“

“No buts. You know what happens when you jump back into action too soon after an episode.”

Selena sighed, closed her eyes and tried to relax into the pillow beneath her neck.

“Can I give you some advice?”, he asked and she nodded.

“Don’t keep Marcus in the dark too long. He’s good for you.”

Selena chuckled.

“I’ll try”, she said.

* * *

The radio silence had made Marcus crazy.  
And it had lasted about a week. A week where he found out just _what_ the kids had done. The first week of Missy being grounded.  
The first week of Anita Morenos’ extra hard training regimen for the children.  
And a week with no peep from Selena.

He was worried.   
They were all worried. And the only one who had contact with Selena every day, apparently, was Miracle Guy. And nobody knew why.  
Marcus tried to ignore the jealousy that was bubbling in his stomach, but he was really bad at it.  
  
Selena had left the Medical Bay on the same day she had been admitted and was apparently recuperating at home.

He was worried that he would spend another night at his house alone, worrying about his friend (girlfriend? potential lover? hookup?), with Missy at her grandmothers for the weekend.

A textmessage at 8:45 gave him hope though and made him race to his car.

_‘I could do with some company. We need to talk.’_

Marcus reached Selenas apartment in record time and rang the doorbell before his nerves caught up with him.  
He had thought about the doctors words all week and what they could have possibly meant. And the mystery of Selenas injury had brought up a lot of questions.

When the door opened, he was met with the sigh of Selena wearing an oversized “The Mandalorian” T-Shirt in white – and nothing more.  
Her legs were bare, safe for the thick bandages on her right thigh. Her caramel hair was put up in a messy bun. She smiled at him, but the smile lacked the usual spark. She looked exhausted.

“Hi Marcus.”

“Hey.”

“Come on in.”

Marcus followed, cursing under his breath as he saw a tiny bit of dark green fabric beneath the t-shirt, as it moved while she walked, revealing that she was really only wearing a t-shirt and underwear.  
 _Oh may god forgive me_ , he cursed inwardly and closed the door.   
She was injured, for goodness sake. She was limping! And her bandages were probably irritated by wearing trousers. There was nothing more to it.

“Tea or wine?”, he heard Selena ask.

Alcohol had resulted in the previous delicious make out session, he remembered, but the conversation he was facing probably called for tea.

“Tea, please. But I can make it, you should relax.”

“I’m fine, Marcus.”

“I beg to differ.”

Marcus pretended not to notice the pill-bottles on Selenas living room table, or the trash can that was half filled with bloodied bandages.

Knowing that she would set the pace on how this conversation would go, Marcus sat down on the couch in anticipation, rubbing his hands on his thighs nervously.

Selena entered the room with two steaming mugs of tea and put them on the table before sitting down next to Marcus, facing him after taking a deep breath.

“I’m sure you have some questions?”, she asked. “So ask.”

“Uhm…”

“Really Marcus, please ask me something. I don’t know how to start this conversation otherwise.”

“Oh, okay. Uhm… well, the most important thing, first. How are you feeling?”

“I’m… fine, I guess?”, she said, reaching for one of the pill bottles on the table and shaking them.   
She grimaced at it, as if she hated the contents. “These make me kind of… numb and sleepy.”

“What exactly are they? If you don’t mind me asking… I mean, I don’t want to pry or anything but… we’re all worried and what happened wasn’t exactly normal… _Oh god_ , I’m rambling.”

Selena chuckled again, putting the pill bottle back on the table.

“I’ll tell you a story, okay? That will explain everything.”

He nodded, giving her his undivided attention.

“You’re probably wondering, as everybody else does, why Guy is my emergency contact?”

“Guy? Oh, Miracle Guy… Yeah, I do, but it’s none of my business.”

Selena reached for one of the pillows on her sofa and started hugging it to her stomach.

“But it’s important for the story. It was about… oh goodness, five years ago, I think? I lived on the other side of the country then, far away from here. I told you I moved here after finishing my degree, right?”

Marcus nodded again, wondering where this was going. He didn’t like the direction this conversation was headed.

“Truth is, I moved here because Miracle Guy got me the job as councilor at HQ. We have… _history_ , you might call it.”

The little green jealousy monster in his stomach roared, but he ignored it. Surely she didn't mean _that_ kind of history... Right?

A sad smile made it’s way onto her face, as she stretched her injured leg and put her foot on the coffee table. Her thigh, her snow white skin, almost as white as the bandages, were just a single movement away from Marcus’ olive toned hand.

“You’re lucky, you know? I mean… you lost your wife, and that’s horrible. But at least your ex didn’t try to kill you.”

Completely shocked, Marcus watched as Selena pulled up her shirt until it met with the rim of her panties, but that was not what he concentrated on.   
He watched as she gingerly removed the bandage covering her thigh.

Beneath it was an angry, red scar almost as long as his hand was broad. Marcus had seen his fair share of stab wounds in his day, and he immediately knew that a very big, very sharp knife must have been rammed into Selenas flesh for the wound to sport a scar like this.

What puzzled him was that the wound looked raw, almost fresh, and that single droplets of blood were escaping through the pores around it, even though the wound was closed and had been stitched closed properly.

Without even realizing wat he was doing, he reached out to collect one of the droplets of blood with his thumb, gingerly running his hands over her leg.

“About five years ago, right after I got my degree, I worked with the police for a while, helping them with counceling. A villain with superpowers was terrorizing our city and Miracle Guy was part of the task force that was established to catch him.”

Marcus vaguely remembered a two month period a while ago where the man had been on an undercover mission, but he was too mesmerized and worried by the wound he had been shown.

“I had a boyfriend back then, his name was Kyle. He was a sweetheart. Kind, loyal – but unfortunately a very easy target. The villain was known for hypnotizing random citizens and making them execute the crimes he ordered them to.”

Fascinated but really worried, Marcus watched as more drops of blood were coming to the surface through Selenas skin. He had picked up a tissue from the table to softly dab them whenever he could catch them.

“I was part of the task force, in a minor capacity. Long story short… Kyle and I were easy targets. The villain hypnotized him and ordered him to kill me. Kyle ended up stabbing my leg before Miracle Guy could take him out. He… he died. We got the villain in the end and he’s no longer alive… But it got me this horrible souvenir – and a lifetime bond with Miracle Guy for saving my life.”

“Why…”, Marcus croaked, realizing that his throat was painfully dry. He took a sip of his now lukewarm tea. “You said it’s been five years? How… How is it still bleeding? And why now?”

Selena sighed, exhausted, leaning her head against Marcus’ shoulder, not able to look him in the eye.   
“Fucking superpower aftertaste”, she explained.

“When Kyle stabbed me, some of the hypnotic superpower of the villain got transferred into the wound. And now, whenever I get extremely angry, agitated, or if someone manipulates me or lies to me and I find out, the wound starts bleeding again… And I feel the stab of the blade… over and over again…”

“That’s…. that’s horrible… I’m so sorry…”, he mumbled, absentmindedly stroking her head, genuinely hurt by what this wonderful, cheerful, lively woman had gone through.

“The pills are… well it took a while to figure out what could help when I have…. An episode. They are some light antidepressant and painkiller mix. They make me really sleepy. And I need a few days to get back on track. I never had an episode in front of other people though… Only at first with Miracle Guy present. He’s the only one, apart from my doctors and now you, that knows about my condition.”

Marcus did what he thought was right, placing a kiss on her forehead.

“But the pills are just to treat the symptoms. What really helps are endorphins. So I try to do things that make me happy. Cooking, sleeping, taking some time off to concentrate on my hobbies…”

“That sounds nice…”, was the only thing Marcus could think of saying.

Selena fiddled with the bottom of her shirt, not knowing where to put her hands. She just enjoyed the feeling of Marcus’ hands playing with her hair.

“It’s just… really frustrating, you know? My last episode was three years ago. But hearing what the kids had done… hearing that they manipulated me and played with my feelings, even if they had good intentions - it made me so angry… I felt so betrayed… And now they’re probably really scared.”

Marcus let go of her then, grabbing for the first aid kit that was open on the living room table.   
  
“Let’s patch you back up, shall we?”  
He shoved the table aside, kneeling down in front of the couch, gingerly applying a gauze to the peculiar wound, his fingers ghosting over the pale, plump flesh.

“Do you know what I find fascinating about you?”, he asked, not waiting for an answer. “Even now, after telling me about this horrible time in your life, you’re still worried about everybody else.”

Marcus had to admit that he thoroughly enjoyed the view.  
He had finished wrapping the new bandage and was now still kneeling on the carpet on the floor, looking up at the beautiful woman in front of him.

He placed his hands on her knees, a game plan in mind, softly stroking the insides of her knees with his thumbs. And he enjoyed that the dark, deep baritone of his voice made her legs blossom with sudden goosebumps.

“When you say endorphins help you heal”, he mumbled, “does that include activities like the ones we were entangled in during the storm?”

Marcus surpassed a grin as he noticed the full body flush that made Selenas skin turn a healthy pink in response to his words. His grip on her knees got a little tighter.

“M-Maybe?”, she squeaked.

“Because if it helps… and if you'll let me…”, he growled, placing a hot kiss on the inside of her uninjured thigh, “I would love to continue where we left off.”

Feeling her legs shiver underneath him in excitement, he scraped his teeth teasingly over her soft flesh, his hands slowly wandering upwards to caress her skin.  
Careful not to irritate her bandage, he registered that she slowly, invitingly, spread her legs just a bit more to give him better access.

A hunger he had not felt in a long time tried to take over his brain, but he could not give in – not yet.   
  
He enjoyed the feeling of his tongue tracing her skin, higher and higher. Her hands buried in his hair, encouraging him, he looked up, stopping just as he reached the hem of her shirt.  
  
The sight he was met with almost made him moan and made him painfully aware of how ridiculously tight his trousers were.   
He was already so hard that he thought he would burst – but he could wait. Right now, Selena was the center of his world, the only one who deserved any attention.

“Are you sure this is okay?”, he asked, watching as she was chewing on her bottom lip, amazed by the air that escaped her lungs through her mouth in excited, short breaths.

“Yes… Marcus, _please_ …”

His restraint was forgotten as soon as he had her permission to continue his ministrations. To get better access, he slid his hands over her hips, squeezing the soft flesh her behind and pulling her towards him to the edge of the couch, making her lean back into the cushions slowly.

The smell of her core was intoxicating, the feeling of the wet fabric beneath his tongue felt like a drug that made him high beyond comprehension.

A soft mewl escaped Selenas lips as she opened her legs even more, giving Marcus access to the most private spot of her body. He scraped his teeth over her panties, pulling them down before his hands carefully slid them down her legs.  
He placed her knees on his broad shoulders, pulling her even closer, now determined to use his tongue to force her brain to release as many endorphins trough her body as it was able to.   
Marcus wanted her to drown in her bliss, let go of all the stress, the pain, the bad memories.

His mouth explored, sucked, teased, nibbled, pleased and tried to give more, go deeper with every moan, every twitch, every delightful encouraging pull on his hair.

He could feel her release washing over her through the sudden quakes of her muscles, the arching of her back and the desperate pull on his hair, before she went slack in his arms, her breathing erratic and she wiggled away slightly to not be overstimulated.

“ _That_ …”, she panted, wiggling her toes, drawing lazy circles onto his scalp, “definitely helped.”

“Yeah?”, he asked, suddenly embarrassed, hiding his face in the folds of her shirt.

“But you know… I’m always really happy when I can share a high with someone I like.”

That earned her another gentle squeeze and a nibble to the flesh of her stomach under her shirt.

“So… if it’s not too much to ask, Mr. Moreno… would you indulge me in a shared endorphine rush in my bedroom?”

He didn’t need to be asked twice. Invigorated, he stood up and carried Selena to the bedroom, suspecting that her legs would not carry her very far right now.

She succeeded in shedding his tight-fitting shirt on her way down to the mattress though and threw it onto the floor triumphantly.   
She was met with the sigh of strong muscles, broad shoulders, delicious looking clavicles and olive coloured skin that begged to be kissed.

Marcus climbed atop of her, finally sealing his lips with hers, bruising them in a hungry kiss, enjoying what he had wanted to do since he was forced to stop during the stormy night a while ago.  
Her embrace was warm, the pace lazy but passionate, her skin hot underneath his hands.   
While she tried to unbutton his jeans, he succeeded in getting rid of her shirt.

The only offending piece of fabric between him and the sight of her naked body was the forest-green bra that hid her nipples and mocked him by cupping her breasts instead of giving this job to his hands.

With a frustrated growl he reached between Selenas body and the mattress to make haste in removing the clothing item, while simultaneously finally freeing his straining member from his jeans and underwear.

“My god, you’re beautiful…”, she whispered as he placed his hands beside her head, his body on top of hers, seconds before their naked bodies could touch.

Marcus chuckled.  
“I believe, Miss Willow, that is my line.”

Closing her eyes, Selena leaned her forehead against his, taking a deep breath.

“What is it? Do you want me to stop?”, he enquired, ready to retreat at her wish.   
  
She shook her head, placing her hands around his neck to encourage him, before asking: “Marcus… Are _you_ sure you want this? With me?”

The smile she received was disarming.   
Slowly, carefully, so as not to crush her underneath him, he let his body touch hers, effectively making their bodies share their heat. Selena could feel his erratic heartbeat through her skin.

“There is nothing in this world right now that I want more, than being with you.”

She smiled sheepishly, wiggling underneath him, enjoying the feeling of his very excited member that was trapped between their bodies.

“I… I’m out of practice,” she admitted. “I might not be good at this…”

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out together.”

The time for words was over as he started to explore again, his mouth attaching itself to one of her nipples while their hands sought each other out, intertwining, finding a rhythm of caressing, stroking, encouraging.

Selena could feel Marcus at her entrance, teasing her, slowly stretching her before a snap of his hips made her howl in bliss as he entered into her moist depths, touching spots of her body that had been neglected for far too long.

“ _Fu_ \- holy hell…”, he gasped.

“That bad?”, she teased, releasing his hands so he could clench the bedpost, while she took the chance to bury her nails into his shoulders.

“Are you kidding me?”, he suttered. “Y-You feel… _amazing_ …”

She clenched her inner muscles experimentally, making him moan and shut his eyes in concentration.

“ _Oi_! I’m.. I’m trying to last a bit longer here… You’re not the only one who’s out of practice.”, he begged, slowly pulling out again before starting a deliciously slow rhythm that massaged every single sensitive spot inside her just right.

Pearls of sweat were trying to catch goosebumps all over their bodies as they moved together, chasing their collective high – the one that they had been waiting to share for a while now, but had been too scared, too shy to pursue.

“M-Marcus…. I… I’m going to…”

“Let go, beautiful. I’m right here…”

Her muscles clenched around him in agonizing bliss once again, coaxing the orgasm he had chased out of him, making him empty himself into the condom he had remembered to slip on.

Careful not to lower himself onto her injured leg and refusing to letting go of her, he let himself fall next to the beautiful creature beneath him, burying his head in her neck, trying to catch his breath.

“Not bad…”, she laughed, snuggling into him.

“Not bad at all..”, he agreed, pulling her towards his chest, sudden exhaustion overcoming him.

“But I think you’ll have to stay the night. I might need some more practice in the morning.”

Marcus grinned, putting a lazy kiss on her neck before pulling the blanket over both of their bodies.

“With pleasure. I have nowhere else to be but here.”


End file.
